Guys say, 'Focus on your work – you're good at it.' Usyk on his visits to the front lines

Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs), the WBA, WBO, IBO, and IBF super heavyweight champion, shared his experiences from his visits to the front lines.

"I went to support the guys, my acquaintances with whom I trained for many years when I was in sports school. It's purely psychological support. I wanted to be there with them, but they said, 'Listen, buddy, focus on your work; you're doing well, and you're helping us. Get out of here.'

I've been to such places... When we got out of the car, we walked through trenches, there was shelling. We waited there, and I pondered. I began to smell something unusual, 'What's going on here?' It smelled like death.

You know that feeling of spring, where you can smell the grass, leaves, and it all blends harmoniously with nature. But in that place, there was a heavy, ominous scent. I said, 'It smells like death,' and someone might ask, 'What does death smell like?' It's a certain kind of hardship, negativity. You don't want to be there.

I had conversations with both Klitschko brothers. When we first joined the territorial defense, I talked to Vitali Vladimirovich. He said, 'Well done for being there and all, but you can do more by speaking in Europe and America about what's happening here. You can help your country in a different way.'

I want to tell you this: my victory is a collective triumph for the entire Ukrainian people, and defeat is a personal struggle," Usyk expressed.